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MEMORIAL SERVICES 



COMMEMORATION DAY 



HELD IN 



CANTON, MAY 30, 1877, 



UNDER THE AUSPICES OF 



Revere Encampment, Post 94, 



GRAND ARMY OF THE REPUBLIC. 



BOSTON: 

WILLIAM BENSE, PRINTER, 35 CONGRESS STREET, 
1S77. 






With the return of our Annual Commemoration Day, we are again 
made grateful for renewed favors. 

Revere Encampment, Post 94, G. A. R., present their thanks, — 

To the Town for their Donation. 

To the Orator of the Day. 

To the 1st Congregational Society for the use of their Church. 

To the ladies and others for flowers. 

To the citizens generally for their attendance and interest in the services. 

A. A. HARRINGTON, Commander. 
Canton, yune 10, 1877- 



3 



COMMEMORATION DAY, 

MAY 30, 1877. 



EXERCISES. 

THE solemn ceremony of decorating with flowers the graves of 
our fallen comrades, was observed by Revere Post, as in 
years past. 

In the forenoon the Post proceeded to Sharon, assisted at the 
ceremonies, and listened to an address by Rev. W. H. Spencer, 
of Foxboro. 

At one o'clock in the afternoon, a procession was formed of the 
Post and citizens, preceded by the Canton Brass Band, Capt. 
John Hale, Marshal, marched to the cemeteries at Canton Centre, 
where, after Invocation by Rev. Edwin Davisj the graves of the 
following soldiers were decorated : 



Charles F. Adams .20th Mass 

Frederic A.Bullock 13th Wisconsin 

Geo. W. Bailey 18th Muss 

*( lhas. E. Bootman 4th Mass 

William E. Brewster 4th Mass 

Robert Blackburn, Jr 20th Mass 

*Jocl A. Bullard. .2nd Engineer, U. S. N 

Joseph Carpenter 

Mai tin Cary 

John Clary 

Thomas Cumin 42d Mass 

*Walter Davenport 35th Mass 

Timothy Flaherty 4th Mass 

Pat rick' Flood 



Edward Fox 19th Mass 

*John Geddis 4th M ass 

♦Walter S. Glover 22d Mass 

William Heath 22d Mass 

♦Andrew L. Hill 18th Mass 

Fred. B. Howard 4th Mass 

Dennis H anion. 



John Howe .4th Mass. and 11th U. S. Inf'y 



Maj.Chas. D. Jordan U. S. A. 

Geo. W. Kehr 20th Mass 

Charles C. Knaggs 4th Mass 

John McCready Navy 

*John McGinley 16th Mass 

Wallace McKendry 22d Mass 

William McKendry , 

George McGinty 

Lieut. Henry U. Morse 4th Mass 

Thomas M. Mullen 29th Mass 

*John M. Pooler 1st Battery 

J. H. Proctor.. . .1st Mass. Band Leader 

John Reardon 

Edward Robhins U. S. Navy 

Owen Shaughnessey 4th Mass 

D. F. Sherman 4th Mass 

*Stephen II. Smith 4th Mass 

F. Thayer .. . . . ( 

Jesse K. Webster, Jr 5th Mass 

William G. White 48th Mass 

Asahel White 

♦Buried elsewhere. 



The procession then re-formed and marched to the Unitarian 
Church, where the services were continued in the following order : 

I. Decoration Hvmn, '"'•Tread lightly der their Graves." 

II. Reading of General Orders. 

III. Memorial Hymn, "Not Forgotten." 

IV. Invocation by Rev. Wm. H. Savary. 



ORATION, 



DAITIEL T. "V. SZTJ^TTOO^T. 



Mr. Commander, — Fellow Citizens : 

WE meet to-day to fulfil a twofold duty. We pause in the 
conflict of life to devote this day to the memory of our 
dead soldiers, and to place upon their graves our annual of- 
fering of fragrant flowers. They sacrificed their lives for the 
salvation of the Republic, and throwing aside all petty distinctions 
of party, with one accord, as citizens of Canton, we assemble to 
render homage to valor and to worth. Their work is finished, 
and they sleep in peace. 

" The muffled drum's sad roll has beat 

The sohlier's last tattoo ; 
No more on life's parade shall meet . 

That brave and fallen few ; 
On Fame's eternal camping ground 

Their silent tents are spread, 
And glory guards, with solemn round, 

The bivouac of the dead. 

Rest on, embalmed and sainted dead ! 

Dear as the blood ye gave. 
No impious footstep here shall tread 

The herbage of your grave. 
Nor shall your glory be forgot 

While Fame her record keeps, 
Or Honor points the hallowed spot 

Where Valor proudly sleeps." 

Again. This day has also been set apart by the citizens of this 
town as a suitable occasion whereon to dedicate a monument, 
2 



erected as a tribute of gratitude, to one whose life was spent in the 
service of his country. 

For many years our town has been marvellously attentive to 
the solicitations of business, and amid the clanging of hammer 
and the whir of machinery, we have been unfaithful to the mem- 
ory of a soldier of other days, one who acted valiantly his part, 
and filled with lustre his day and generation. In the discharge of 
the imperative duties of to-day, we have little inclination to peer 
into the twilight of yesterday. Our recollection of events that 
happened years ago is faint and intermitting, and we are apt to 
forget those who crowded the walks of life in the dim past, who 
were our benefactors, and to whose fame and glory we are 
joint heirs. And to-day, at the eleventh hour, we come together 
to contemplate the life and deeds of one whose work was finished 
long ago, and whose face none of us in Canton, save one, have 
ever seen. 

About the year 1630, three brothers, bearing the names of 
Richard, Samuel, and Thomas Gridley, arrived in America. It 
is probable that they came from the County of Essex in Old Eng- 
land. Soon after reaching these shores Samuel died. Thomas 
went to Hartford, in the State of Connecticut, where he died, 
leaving a numerous posterity. 

Richard, the elder of the brothers, remained in Boston, and was 
admitted a freeman in 1634. His name appears in the " Book of 
Possessions," and the ancient records say of him that " he was 
an honest, poor man, but very apt to meddle in public affairs be- 
yond his calling or skill."* He appears to have followed the craft 
of a mason, and was the owner of a lot of land, with a house 
thereon, the eastern boundary of which was washed by the waters 
of the bay. It appears that his townspeople believed there were 
some public matters which were not " beyond his knowledge or 
skill," for in 1647 his mathematical ability caused him to be ap- 
pointed a surveyor ; and some time after, his knowledge of mili- 
tary affairs raised him from the ranks, to be captain of the Ancient 
and Honorable Artillery Company. f In time he died,- (1674) and 

* Drake's Boston pps. 226, 798, 348, 307. 

t History of Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company. 







W,l$U+> 



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from him was descended Major General Richard Gridley, 
the hero, whose virtues, by the dedication of a monument, we this 
day celebrate. 

• Richard Gridley, the son of Richard and Rebecca Gridley, was 
born in Boston on the third of January, 1710.* The family 
consisted of six children, of whom he was the youngest. His 
brother Jeremy was destined in after years to take no ordinary po- 
sition among his contemporaries. He sustained offices of the 
highest trust and importance. He was Colonel of the First Reg- 
iment of Militia in the County of Suffolk, when it was deemed 
necessary to have men of ability in that position. At the time of 
his death he was Attorney General of the Province and a member 
of the Great and General Court. He was President of the Marine 
Society, and was appointed ( 1 755) by the Marquis of Carnarvon 
Provincial Grand Master of Masons in North America. f He was 
educated at Harvard, (1725) was a teacher of youth, conducted a 
newspaper with ability ; was, as President Adams said, " among 
the most distinguished in his profession,'' " the giant of the law" 
and is now spoken of as the " Webster of his day." He was 
acknowledged to be a good classical scholar, and a man of ex- 
tensive learning, and it is reasonable to suppose that his brother 
Richard received the best education that the town of Boston in 
those days could afford. As the elder brother had adopted one of 
the learned professions, it was the desire of his parents that Rich- 
ard should become a man of business. At the usual age he was 
apprenticed to Mr. Atkinson, a wholesale merchant of Boston.]: 
Apt and learned in the arts and sciences, he was one of the great- 
est mathematicians of his day; of romantic honor, chivalrous am- 
bition, and adventurous bravery ; nature made him a soldier, and 
art could not make .him a merchant. Like Washington, he em- 
ployed himself as a surveyor and civil engineer, a profession 
which few in his day were qualified to enter. It was at this time 
that he acquired that wonderful skill in drawing which his Plan 
of the fortifications of Louisburg, still extant, attests. § His auto- 

* Boston Records. 

t Bradford's N. E. Biog p. 212. Dr. Pierce's Address, 1846. 

J Ms. Letter of fttrs. Hunt and Mrs. Leonard, written-in 1818. 

§ " A Plan of the City and Fortifications of Louisburg- from a survey made by Rich- 
ard Gridley, Lieut-Col. of the train of Artillery in 1745. Published by Thomas Jef- 
ferys, Geographer to the Prince of Wales, Charing Cross, London, Oct. 9, 1758." 



graph letters reveal the skill and beauty of a ready writer, an art 
he acquired with such facility in youth, that one of his teachers 
remarked that he must have been born with a pen in his hand ; 
and even at the age of eighty years his handwriting was clear, and 
even elegant. When quite a youth, ascertaining that many indi- 
viduals suffered in their business transactions for want of a gauger, 
he discovered the method, and without any regard to private 
emolument, but entirely with a view to public utility, readily en- 
gaged in the business, sacrificing his time for the advantage of his 
fellow-men. He was the first, and, for a long time, the only gauger 
in America.* 

He was the chief projector of Long Wharf in Boston, which 
was constructed according to the plan he had proposed, and the 
first pier of which was sunk by him.* In 1735, four Indian chiefs 
of the Pigwacket tribe paid a visit to Boston, and we find Richard 
Gridley, then twenty-four years of age, selected as a suitable per- 
son to entertain them during their stay.f In early life, while 
residing in Boston, it was Gridley's good fortune to become the 
friend of John Henry Bastide, a young English gentleman of the 
highest culture and scientific attainments, who was soon to become 
Director of his Majesty's Engineers and Chief Engineer of Nova 
Scotia. This accomplished officer was at the time Gridley made 
his acquaintance, engaged in drawing plans for fortifications to 
be erected in the harbors of Boston, Marblehead, Cape Ann, and 
Casco Bay. j He was not only the author of a valuable, treatise 
on fortification, but was a skilled artillerist. From him Gridley 
acquired new zeal, and renewed the study of military science with 
avidity, the details of which he easily mastered. The art of sur- 
veying seemed tame to one whose soul was filled with ambition 
and patriotism, and ere long he put into practice the information 
derived from his instructor. 

On the southeastern part of the Island of Cape Breton, which 
forms a portion of that country known to the French as Acadia^ 

* Manuscript Letter of Mrs. Hunt, written in 1818. 

f Mass. Arch. Vol. 31. 

J Mass. Arch., Vol. lxxiii, pp. 738, 746, 747. 



and to the English as Nova Scotia, stood, a century and a quarter 
ago, the city of Loiiisburg. Loyalty to the person of the King 
had given it its name ; and all that military skill could devise 
had for twenty-five years been employed upon its fortifications. 
Six millions of dollars had been expended in rendering impreg- 
nable a city two miles and a half in circumference. On all sides 
of this " Gibraltar of America" arose a rampart of stone thirty-six 
feet high, from which two hundred and six cannon fi owned de- 
fiance. Within, the town was beautifully laid out. Its streets 
were broad, and on both sides lined with public buildings, whose 
fronts of rich cream-colored sandstone were wrought into arches 
and pilasters, by the most skilful artisans the Kingdom of France 
could furnish. The adjacent hills echoed the reveille, while the 
broad bosom of the Atlantic received the vibration of the morning 
and evening gun. The shrill pipe of the boatswain, calling the 
sailors to duty, was drowned by the deep-voiced trumpet. The 
busy hum of an active population filled its streets; the soldier in 
gorgeous uniform saluted the Jesuit in priestly robe. From the 
towers of churches, nunneries and hospitals, the sound of bells 
filled the air, while high above the turrets and towers rose the cit- 
adel, and from its highest point floated a flag emblazoneckwith the 
golden lilies of France. 

Such was the city which, wonderful to relate, existed at so early 
a period in our history, and which, still more wonderful to relate, 
in 1745, the New England Colonies, without the aid of the Mother 
Country, pluckily besieged. Col. William Pepperrell, on account 
of his eminent fitness and large popularity, was selected to com- 
mand the expedition. Early in 1 745 Richard Gridley received 
his commission as " Lieutenant Colonel" and "Captain of Train 
and Company," * and on the first of April joined the expedition. 
Thirty days after the investment of the place, on May second, the 
Grand or Royal Battery, which stood directly opposite the Harbor 
of Louisburg, was captured by his Majesty's forces, and the com- 
mand of it given to Gridley, the Captain of the Artillery. f The 
monotony of the siege was relieved by a visit from his old friend 
and instructor, Bastide ; and in the light of subsequent events, it 

* N. E. Gen. Register, Vol. xxiv, p. 376. fMass. Arch. Vol. lxxiii, pp. 712, 714. 
3 



IO 

would appear that a portion of Gridley's leisure hours were em- 
ployed in cutting upon one of the stones of the fortification his 
name, " Gridley," and underneath, the date, "1745." Only a 
few years ago, the author of the Life of Sir William Pepperrell,* 
in examining a pile of rubbish at the Grand Battery, found the 
identical stone with the deeply chiselled lines, done, in all proba- 
bility, by Gridley's own hand. Capt. Abraham Reller, the First 
Bombardier of the expedition, died, and on the first of August 
Gov. Shirley commissioned Richard Gridley, First Bombardier, 
and he continued in the double capacity of First Captain of Artil- 
lery and First Bombardier until the end of the siege ; and not- 
withstanding the General Court had ordered that no officer should 
receive pay in a double capacity, the money was granted him in 
England on both muster rolls, and he received from the Province 
JEioo.j" The vigorous mind of Gridlev, his quick perception, his 
early acquirements and pursuits, together with the instructions of 
Bastide, enabled him to make rapid acquisitions in the knowledge 
requisite for the performance of his duties as Chief Bombardier. 
Such was the accuracy of his eye that he succeeded, though con- 
trary to the expectations of his friends, in ranging the mortar 
with his own hand, which, upon the third fire, dropped a shell 
directly into the citadel, and was the immediate cause of the sur- 
render of the city. \ His first fire overreached it ; his second fell 
short; his third was successful. 

Not only the battery on Lighthouse Cliff, from which, in all 
probability, this shell was thrown, but all of Pepperrell's batteries 
were erected under the direction of Gridley. § 

Great was the rejoicing throughout the Provinces when the joy- 
ful tidings were proclaimed that the stronghold of France in the 
New World had fallen before the attack of the farmers, mechanics 
and fishermen of New England. Our old church records mention 
the happy event, and the Pastor writes, " Blessed be God who 
heareth prayer." In London the cannon of the Tower and Park 
announced the glorious news. All Europe, in fact, was aston- 
ished. The valiant commander of the expedition, Gen. Pepper- 
rell, was made a baronet of Great Britain, an honor never before 

* Life of Sir Wm. Pepperrell, p. 334. fMass. Arch. Vol lxxiii, p. 712-714. 

% Everett's Orations, Vol. i, p. 391. § Bancroft, Vol. ii, p, 693. 



conferred on a native of America ; and Gridley, the Chief Engi- 
neer, who had planned his batteries, returned to Boston, and was 
honored with a captaincy in Gov. Shirley's regiment on the Bri- 
tish establishment. So ended the greatest event of our Colonial 
history, an everlasting memorial of the zeal, courage and perse- 
verance of the troops of New England. Gridley had won his first 
laurels. His reputation as an able and skilful engineer was es- 
tablished, and the knowledge obtained in this campaign was in 
due time to be of inestimable value to his country.* 

But the people of France were bent on the recovery of their 
"■Dunkirque of America," and the following year, (1746), the 
Duke D'Anville, in command of a large fleet, sailed toward our 
shores. Governor Shirley employed Gridley to draw designs for 
a battery and other fortifications on Governor's Island in Boston 
Harbor; and from September until the cold weather set in, Grid- 
ley was employed, night and day, upon Castle William,f drawing 
all the plans for the work, both for masons and carpenters. The 
spring and the summer of the following year were spent in com- 
pleting the fortifications about the harbor. But the famous fleet 
of the accomplished and elegant D'Anville was, like the Spanish 
Armada, scattered to the four winds of heaven. 

For several years Gridley saw no active service, as the regiment 
of Gen. Shirley, in which he held a captaincy, was disbanded in 
1749. In 1752 we find him in attendance upon the Governor in 
his journey to the Kennebec, and Fort Western, the site of which 
is now occupied by the city of Augusta, and Fort Halifax, a few 
miles further up the Kennebec River, were erected under his su- 
pervision.! In 1755 he again entered the army as Chief Engi- 
neer, and the House of Representatives, (Sept. 9, 1755,) knowing 
" the absolute need of persons that understood the artillery, voted 
that Col. Richard Gridley be desired, for the necessity of the ser- 
vice, to assist them in that part, and that his Honor, the Lieu- 
tenant Governor, be desired to appoint him Colonel of one of the 
regiments to be raised for that (Crown Point) expedition, and 
that an express be immediately dispatched to him for his answer." 

*Frothii)gl)am, p. 103-184. fMass. Arch. Vol. lxxiv, p. 14. JSwett's Bunker Hill. 



12 



The answer was favorable. He was appointed Commander-in- 
Chief of the Provincial Artillery, Colonel of Infantry, and was to 
receive in addition to the pay of the latter position, the same com- 
pensation he had received at the siege of Louisburg.* Accom- . 
panied by his brother, Samuel Gritlley, who had been appointed 
commissary in his own regiment, §§ Richard joined the expedition 
against Crown Point, and under his supervision, Fort William 
Henry and all the fortifications around Lake George were con- 
structed.]: Having complete control of the artillery, the duties of 
the extensive command with which the Governor had honored 
him, rendered it liable for him to be absent from his regiment, 
giving directions to the train. In the spring of 1756, therefore, 
two Lieutenant-Colonels were, at his suggestion, attached to his 
regiment. § In June of the same year we find him, under General 
Winslow at Albany, forming a camp at Half Moon, and drilling 
his men. He was not supplied either with provisions or with 
tools ; his ammunition was unfit for use ; his gun carriages were 
constantly breaking. But in these adverse circumstances, he 
writes : " You may depend upon it, the army will push forward, 
let the consequences be what they will, and if we are not provided 
with those things which are of consequence to us, and may be 
provided, it's entangling us more than we ought to be."|| And 
the army did push forward ; but ere it reached Crown Point, the 
sad news of the fall of Forts Oswego and Ontario 'caused it to re- 
turn to a place of safety, and the campaign against Canada was 
ended for that year. 

Gridley was not only the trusted officer, but the valued friend 
of Winslow, and was selected by that General to accompany him 
when, on the fourth of August, 1756, he went, "with our Chief 
Engineer, Colonel Gridley," to meet his Excellency, the Earl of 
Loudoun, then Commander-in-Chief of his Majesty's forces in 
America.! On the muster roll of Gridley's regiment this year, 
appears, as Second Lieutenant, the name of Paul Revere, who 
had just attained his majority. In 1757 Governor Pownall ordered 

* Mass. Arch., vol. lxxiv, 534, 536. §§ Mass. Arch. Vol lxxv, p. 298. 

+ Curwen's Life, p 555. Losing's Eev. Vol. I, p. 546. Life of Pcpperrell, p. 281. 

§ Mass. Arch., vol. lv, pp. 181, 3o5. || Mass. Arch. Vol. iv, p. 341. 

11 Mass.' Hist. Soc. Col., vol. vi, p. 36. 



*3 

Gridley to prepare and form a train of Artillery. This he did, 
and sailed for Halifax, intending to visit Louisburg; but the ex- 
pedition was turned from its purpose by tfie proximity of the 
French fleet. 

Cape Breton having been restored to France, Louisburg in 1758, 
again became the scene of contention and hostilities. Gridley re- 
visited his earliest field of glory, and was present at the second 
taking of the city. He had charge of the advanced stores of the 
army, and so distinguished himself at the siege, that on the evacu- 
ation of the city by the French, Lord Amherst offered him the 
valuable furniture of the French Governor's residence, which offer 
he, with chivalrous delicacy, declined, ever unwilling to appro- 
priate to his private use spoils taken from an enemy. 

In 1759 Gridley was appointed by Gen. Amherst to the distin- 
guished honor of commanding the Provincial Artillery, which, 
under General Wolfe, was about to besiege Quebec ; his knowl- 
edge of the needs of an army was so exact, that he was applied 
to for information respecting the quantity of provisions and 
clothing the Provincial troops would require during the siege. 
Gen. Amherst did not form a junction with Wolfe, he deemed the 
slender forces of the latter inadequate to the capture of a city so 
strongly fortified by nature and art. Notwithstanding discourage- 
ments and disappointments, Col. Gridley and the other principal 
officers warmly seconded the hazardous plan conceived by Wolfe, 
and with intrepidity and valor, landed in the night under the 
Plains of Abraham, and succeeded in attaining the summit of that 
precipice. It was Gridley's corps that dragged up the only two 
field pieces which were raised to the heights.* And in the 
battle which ensued, when the two gallant armies, in proud 
array, with flags and banners, and bright, glittering arms, met in 
the heat of conflict, Gridley fought with bravery, and stood by the 
side of his renowned commander when that gallant officer fell, 
victorious. 

Peace having been restored, Gridley went to England to adjust 
his accounts with the government. He was received abroad with 

* Everett's Orations, vol. i, p. 393. 
4 



i4 

great cordiality. For his distinguished services, the Magdalen 
Isles, with an extensive seal and cod fishery, and half-pay as a 
British officer, were conferred upon him. Much of his time was 
passed during the next few years at his island home. He was not 
troubled by wars or rumors of wars. In 1762 he purchased a 
house in Prince Street in Boston ; whether he occupied it himself 
or not is uncertain. It was in 1773 that the Governor of New 
Hampshire, in acknowledgment of his meritorious services, 
granted him three thousand acres of land. Advancing years in- 
duced him to resign the business at Magdalen Islands to his sons. 

In 1770, Richard Gridley, Esquire, purchased of Edmund 
Quincy one-half of Massapog Pond in Sharon, for the sake of pro- 
curing from its bed iron ore.* He also, in connection with Ed- 
mund Quincy, purchased or erected a furnace for smelting the 
ore. It is probable that he came to reside in this town in 1773, 
as we find him taxed in his individual name that year for the first 
time, and the designation " of Boston " is dispensed with." f He 
was now sixty-two years of age. To himself and to his contem- 
poraries it must have seemed as if his work was done, and that 
nothing remained to him but to enjoy the consciousness of a well- 
spent life. With the honors of a veteran of the French wars, and 
a pension from the Crown, he might pass the remainder of his 
life in his rural home at Canton, with comfort and with the respect 
of his countrymen. But it was not so to be. 

Gen. Joseph Warren was an intimate friend of Gridley's. It is 
asserted that as early as 1774 they signed a secret agreement, 
pledging themselves in case of an open rupture with the Mother 
Country, that they would together join the Patriot Army.! Be 
this as it may, Warren writes in January, 1775 : — "Mr. Gridley, 
as an engineer, is much wanted. We have an opportunity of oblig- 
ing him, which will, I believe,. secure him to us in case of necessity. "§ 

At the breaking out of the Revolutionary War, despite his age, 
he eagerly accepted the overtures that were made to him by his 
appreciative countrymen. They could ill spare one of such 
marked ability in the profession of arms. The men who had seen 

* Suffolk Registry, vol. cxxi, p. 93. t Stoughton Tax List. 

JN. E. Hist. Reg., vol. xii, p. 351. § N. E. Hist. Reg. vol. xxx, p. 307. 



i5 

service in Nova Scotia and Canada were the very men needed to 
regulate and discipline troops who possessed, at this period, 
only one of the requisites of a soldier, courage. Throwing aside, 
then, the inducements which would naturally have held him to the 
service of the King, Colonel Gridley, in answer to a letter from 
his British agent in England, requesting to be informed on which 
side he should take up arms, replied : — "I shall fight for justice 
and my country ; "* and cast his lot with the Patriots. His half- 
pay ceased, and the arrears already due, he had too much spirit to 
receive. 

On the 21st of April, 1775, the Provincial Congress voted "that 
a courier be dispatched to Stoughton to require the immediate at- 
tendance upon the Committee of Safety, of Col. Richard Gridley 
and his son, Scarborough Gridley."! Gridley was appointed to 
the command of the First Regiment of Artillery, the only artillery 
regiment in the Provinces at the opening of the war.} He was 
requested to select proper persons for officers, and we observe the 
name of Scarborough Gridley § as Second Major. Ezra and Ste- 

* A. II. Everett's B. II. Oration, 1836, p. 18. 

t Jour. Prov. Cony., p. 520. ^Bradford's N. E. Biog., p. 213. 

§ Major Scarborough Gridley is said to have procured his appointment in place of 
Benjamin Thompson, afterwards Count Rumford, through parental partiality. On 
the morning of the battle of Bunker Hill, he had been ordered to proceed with his 
battalion from Cambridge to the lines, but advanced but a few rods beyond the neck 
when be halted, determined, as lie said, to cover the retreat, which he considered in- 
evitable. Col. Frye seeing Gridley, the younger, in this position, said to him, 
" What are you waiting here for ? " " We are waiting to cover the retreat." "Re- 
treat!" cries the veteran, " who talks of retreating? This day, thirty years ago, I 
was present at the taking of Louisburg, when jour father with his own hand lodged 
a shell in the citadel. His son was not born to talk of retreating; Forward, to the 
lines!" Gridley proceeded a short distance with his artillery, but overcome with 
terror, ordered bis men back upon Cobble Hill, to fire with three-pounders upon the 
Glasgow and the floating batteries. This order was so absurd that C'apt. Trcvett re- 
fused to obey it and proceeded to the scene of action with two pieces of artillery ; this 
little fragment of Gridley's battery was the only re-enforcement that the Americans 
received during the battle For his conduct at the battle, Scarborough was tried by 
court-martial, Maj. Gen. Greene presiding. The sentence of the court, Sept. 24, 
177') was, that for " being deficient in his duty upon the 17th of June last, the day of 
the action upon Bunker's Hill, the court find Major Scarborough Gridley guilly'of 
a breach of orders. They do, therefore, dismiss him from the Massachusetts service, 
but on account of bis inexperience and youth, and the great confusion that attended 
that day's transactions in general, they do not consider him incapable of a Continen- 



t6 

phen Badlam appear respectively as First and Second Lieu- 
tenants in Samuel Gridley's Company, all Canton men.* The 
second day after the meeting of the Provincial Congress at Con- 
cord, April 23, 1775, it was "Resolved that an army of thirty 
thousand men was needed for the defence of the country. Ar- 
temas Ward, who had served under Abercrombie, was appointed 
Commander-in-Chief; " and it was further " Resolved that Rich- 
ard Gridley, Esq., be and hereby is, appointed Chief Engineer of 
the forces now raising in the Colony for the defence of the rights 
of the American Continent, and that there be paid to the said 
Richard Gridley, out of the public treasury of this Colony, during 
his continuance in that service, at the rate of £170 per annum ; 
and it is further resolved that from and after the time when the 
said forces shall be disbanded, during the life of said Gridley, 
there shall be paid to him, out of the said treasury, the sum of 
£"123 per annum. "f 

On the 26th of April, Gridley entered the service and was soon 
actively engaged in the duties of his office. During this time he 
was stationed at Cambridge, and was in constant communication 
with the Provincial Congress, desiring them to appoint clerks, to 
keep carefully the account of ordnance, stores, etc.j In May, 
Col. Henshaw, Col. Gridley, and Richard Devens, were ordered 
b} T Gen. Ward to view the heights in Charlestown. They attended 
to this duty, and reported it advisable to fortify, first Prospect, 
then Bunker's, and finally, Breed's Hill. 

On the 1 6th of June, 1775, Prescott received orders from Gen. 
Artemas Ward to proceed that evening to Bunker's Hill and build 
fortifications, which were to be planned by Col. Richard Gridley, 
the accomplished Chief Engineer.§ At the hour of sunset the 
troops assembled on the Common, in front of Gen. Ward's head- 

tal commission, should the general officers recommend him to his Excellency." 
. ( Frothingham, p. 185. ) Several persons, living and dead, have confounded Scar- 
borough, with Richard Gridley. Samuel Gridley was also a son of the General. 

*Mass. Arch., vol. xlvi, p. 276. fMass. Arch. vol. lxxx, p. 601, 64J. 

• X Mass. Arch, cxlvi, p. 154. 

§ Frothingham Siege, p. 122. Tarbox Life of Putnam, p. 127. Irving's Life of 
Washington, vol. i, 468. 



i7 

quarters, provided with packs, blankets and provisions. They 
soon set out on their silent march, preceded by two sergeants 
with dark lanterns. The son of Col. Gridley, Capt. Samuel 
Gridley, with his company of fifty men, and two field pieces, ac- 
companied and formed part of the expedition. Slowly they pro- 
ceeded, through the quiet of the night, toward Charlestown, the 
only sound that greeted their ears being the drowsy cry of " All's 
well ! " from the sentry on the Boston shore. They reached the 
heights in about an hour, when the question arose whether Breed's 
or Bunker's Hill was the proper one whereon to erect fortifica- 
tions. The consultation was long and acrimonious. Time was 
precious. The veteran Gridley urged with all the force of his ar- 
dent nature that Bunker's Hill was the only proper one whereon 
to erect breastworks.* He sustained his opinion by examples 
from his own experience and from the chronicles of military his- 
tory. One of the Generals coincided with him, but the other was 
stubborn, and determined not to yield. At length Gridley said 
to the latter, " Sir, the moments are precious, we must decide at 
once. Since you will not give up your individual opinion to ours, 
we will give up to you. Action, and that instantly, only can save 
us." Thus the obstinacy and stubbornness of this General decided 
the matter, and Breed's Hill was the one selected. f 

The first detachment had no sooner reached the hill than Grid- 
ley began to mark out the plan of the fortifications. With his usual 
celerity he drew his lines with a genius and skill that would have 
done honor to the most experienced engineer in the veteran armies 
of the old world, \ gave orders to his men, and when not busy in 
directing others, worked himself, spade in hand, throwing up the* 
fortifications which were to be the protection of the embryo na- 
tion. It was near being a fatal mistake for one having such 
knowledge and ability to do the manual labor, which could better 
have been done by a farmer's boy from Berkshire. The next 
morning, that never to be forgotten Seventeenth of June, 
Gridley was unwell, owing to his fatigue of the night previous, 

* Cutter's Life of General Putnam, p. 166. 

t Irving's Life of Washington, vol. i. p. 467. Frothingham's Siege, p. 123. 
X Cutter's Life of Putnam, p. 166. Hale,—" 100 Years Ago," p. 30. 
5 



iS 



and was obliged to leave the hill ; but to the joy of all, he so far 
recovered as to return later in the clay. He immediately placed 
himself at the head of his own battery of artillery, and, judging from 
all accounts, it was poor enough. It had been raised especially for 
Gridley, and great exertions had been made to complete it. It 
was believed, if confided to him, it would do great execution ; yet 
notwithstanding all that had been done, at the time of the battle it 
consisted of only ten companies and four hundred and seventeen 
men. It had only two brass pieces and six iron six-pounders. 
The brass pieces were those which have since been known as the 
"Adams and Hancock," a fac-simile of which adorns the monu- 
ment we this day dedicate.* Gridley seizing one of these brass 
pieces, pushed bravely forward, and aided in discharging it, until 
it was disabled, and he was obliged to order it to the rear. During 
the whole engagement, well knowing that a price had been set 
upon his head by the British Government, Gridley never flinched, 
but was exposed to the severest fire of the enemy. He ascended 
the hill with the intrepid Warren, was near him and saw him fall.f 
Almost at the same time he was himself struck by a musket ball 
in the leg. An historian, describing the state of affairs at this 
critical moment, says : — "' Warren was killed, and left on the field ; 
Gridley was wounded. "J All seemed to be lost. Finding that he 
could do no more, Gridley entered his sulky to be carried oft", but 
meeting with some obstruction, had but just vacated it, when the 
horse was killed and the sulky riddled by the bullets of the enemy. 
The British sharpshooters could not overlook so prominent a 
mark, and rightly surmising that the vehicle contained some per- 
.son high in authority, they directed their fire towards it with such 
accuracy that htad Gridley been in it, he would most certainly have 
been killed. The next day one of his neighbors from Canton went 
to Boston and conveyed him home.|| His wound could not have 
been very serious, for a few days after, assisted by his son, Lieut. 
Col. Scarborough Gridley, he took charge of a battery placed at 
the Highlands. § 

* S.wett's Battle of B. H. p. 5. t Columbian Centmel, June 22,' 1796. 

+ Frothingham, p. 151. || Enoch Leonard. § Frothingham, p. 212. 



l 9 




The last of June we find him at Cambridge, begging that the 
artillery may be supplied with blankets, as well as the other arms" 
of the service, asserting that his men are sadly in want of them, 
and that his brave followers are falling sick daily in consequence 
thereof.* On Jul^ third he addressed a severe letter to the Pro- 
vincial Congress, asserting that he had nominated field officers for 
the regiment of artillery that he deemed best for the interests of the 
country. But he says, " the Provincial Congress do not deem it 
necessary to consult with me ;" and his letter closes in the follow- 
ing spirited manner: — "Be assured, gentlemen, if I must have no 
judgment, and am not to be consulted in these matters, and must 
have persons transferred on me, I am determined I will withdraw 
myself from the army, and will have nothing further to do with it.f 

It is said that America commenced her Revolution with but ten 
pieces of cannon, and to the mechanical science and ingenuity of 
Gridley was she indebted for the first cannon and mortars ever cast 
in this country. J His furnace was for a long time employed by 
oiiLi of Congress under his direction casting cannon for the use of 
le army. In February, 1776, we find him at Mashapog Pond, 
with a number of men, proving some mortars, which were after- 
wards placed on Dorchester Heights. He was assisted at this 
time by Captain Curtis, who, like himself, was a veteran of the 
French War.§ One year later, (Feb. 14, 1777,) Congress em- 
powered Robert Treat Paine, to contract with him for forty eight- 
inch howitzers to be sent to Ticonderoga.|| 

On the twentieth of September, 1775, Richard Gridley received 
from the Provincial Congress the rank of Major General, and was 
ordered to take command of the artillery with the rank of Colpnel.ff 
He had received the highest rank from the Provincial Congress, 
and had his commission been renewed in the Continental Army, 
Washington says : — " He would have outranked all the Brigadier 
and all the Major Generals. "§§ Nevertheless, he writes Dec. 31, 
1 775 : — " I believe Colonel Gridley expects to be continued as 

*Mass. Arch. Vol. 194, p. 20. f Mass. Arch. Vol. 146, p. 307. 

JSwett, B. H. p. 54. § N. E. Hist, ami Gen. Reg-. Vol. xxii, p. 3. 
|| Jour. Congress, p. 581. ft Jour. Congress, 1775, p. 142. 

§§ Sparks' Washington, Vol. iii, p. 50. 



Chief Engineer in the army. It is very certain that we have no 
one better qualified."* Not only did Washington acknowledge 
his great value as an officer in his letters, but he urgently requested 
him to accompany the army to the South. But the infirmities of 
age were creeping upon him. He resigned his commission, and 
the council of officers coincided in the belief that on account of his 
advanced age it were better to place the command of the artillery 
in younger hands. On Friday, the seventeenth of November, 
1775, Henry Knox,f whose skill as an artillerist had attracted the 
attention of Washington, and whose subsequent career was so 
brilliant that recently his statue has been presented to the nation 
by the State of Maine, succeeded Gen. Gridley in command of the 
artillery. 

On the memorable night of the fourth of March, 1776, it was de- 
cided to fortify Dorchester Heights. And who so capable as 
Gridley ? With his usual celerity and skill he marked out the 
plan of the breastworks, and a redoubt was soon erected which, 
perhaps was never exceeded except by that on Breed's Hill. J 
One historian compares it "to the works of Aladdin ;" and another, 
in speaking of the fortifications, says :— "In history they were 
equalled only by the lines and forts raised by Julius Cresar to sur- 
round the army of Pompey."§ Certain it is that they were of such 
a nature that neither Lord Howe nor Earl Percy dared attack them, 
and deemed it best to evacuate Boston. "As absolute a flight," 
said Wilkes in the House of Commons, "as that of Mahomet from 
Mecca." 

After the evacuation of Boston, Gen. Washington offered to 
Gridley his choice of a place of residence in that city, where he 
remained many months, and was entrusted by the commander in 
chief with the duty of demolishing the British intrenchments on 
the Neck, || and in order that the work might be well and quickly 
done, Gen. Ward had orders to furnish him with as many men as 
he deemed necessary for the undertaking. The works were des- 

* Am. Arch. 4th Series. t Sparks, Vol. iii, p. 197. 

X Dawson's, U. S. Vol. i, p. 87. Everett's Oration, Vol. iii, p. 3-iO. 

§ Silliman's Journal, Frothingharn, p. 326. || Sparks, Vol. iii, p. 328. 






21 



troyed, and near their site Gridley laid out the famous " Roxbury 
Lines,"* Castle William, down the harbor, the hills of Charles- 
town, Fort Hill in Boston, and all the prominent positions about 
the harbor were erected or strengthened under his direction.** 

When Bunker's Hill again came into the possession of the 
Americans, after the departure of the royal troops, strict search 
was made for the body of Major General Joseph Warren, and 
when on the Sth of April, 1776, the body was reinterred, with all 
the honor and respect the embryo nation could furnish, among 
the distinguished gentlemen who acted as pall-bearers on that oc- 
casion appears the name of Richard Gridley .f 

Twelve days after, Gridley was ordered by Washington to at- 
tend to the fortifications on Cape Ann and protect the harbor of 
Gloucester.]: While performing his duties here, he attended the 
ministrations of the Rev. John Murray, and it was but a step for 
one, who had been an admirer of Mayhew and Chauncy, to be- 
come a decided and enthusiastic Universalist. He adopted the 
belief of the " Promulgator," as Murray was then called, and 
there was established between them a friendship of no ordinary 
character, designated by Mrs. Murray in after years, as "an old 
and unbroken amity." In the deepest trouble of his life, when his 
beloved partner, whom he had married before he was of age, and 
with whom he had enjoyed nearly sixty years of connubial hap- 
piness, died,§ it was to Murray, his friend and spiritual guide, that 
he looked for comfort and for strength. No better insight into 
Gridley's home life can be had than that given by Mrs. Murray in 
a letter addressed to her parents, under date of Oct. 24, 179°- 

" The weather on Monday morning proving remarkably fine, 
we commenced our journey to Stoughton. Much had we dwelt 
on the serene enjoyments which awaited us in the family of Col. 

* Drake's "Ancient Landmarks," pp. 426, 427. **Cent. Evacuation, p. 140. 
Frothingham, p. 313. 

f Life and Times Jos Warren, p. 524. 

% Am. Arch., vol. vi, 4th ser. p. 439. 

S Her maiden name was Hannah Deming-, she was married Feb. 25, 1730, died Oct. 
19, 1790, Mt. 80. Children :— Richard, born July 12, 1731. Hannah, b. Jan. 1, 1732. 
Samuel b. June 14, 1734. Joseph b. ttov. 5, 1736. Jane b. July 7, 1738, m. Elijah 
Hunt, died 1818. Scarborough b. Oct. 9, 1739, d. Feb. 16, 1742. Rebecca b. Ap. 25, 
1741. Mary married Enoch Leonard. Scarborough d. Dec. 16, 1787. 



Gridley, and it was only in die paternal dwelling that we expected 
more unequivocal mjjrks of friendship. Upon how many contin- 
gencies doth sublunary bliss depend ; all felicity is indeed a work 
too bold for mortals, and we ought never assuredly to promise 
ourselves the possession of any good. With much rapidity we 
posted forward. For the convivial smiles of hospitality we were 
prepared, but alas for us, the venerable Mistress of Stoughton 
villa, had, the day before our arrival, breathed her last. Her 
family, her bereaved family, met us in tears, but her clay cold 
tenement, shrouded in its burial dress, unconscious of our ap- 
proach, preserved with dignified tranquillity its sweet and expres- 
sive composure. Often had her arm with even maternal ten- 
derness been extended to us, while the tumultuous joy of her bosom 
was described by every expression of her face ! But now her 
heart had forgot to beat, — to the glad sensations of affection it is 
no longer awake ; and for the arrival of the messenger of peace 
the sigh of her perturbed bosom will no more arise. Many years 
of pain she hath lingered out, and for weeks past her agonies have 
been exquisite. Ought we then to mourn her exit, when, more- 
over, she departed strong in faith, giving glory to God? Yet for 
me, I confess I am selfish, • censurably selfish, and while I stood 
gazing on her breathless corse, the agonized breathings of my 
spirit to the Preserver of men were, that I might never be called 
to view my beloved parents thus stretched upon the bed of death. 
The life of Mrs. Gridley has been amiable ; she has departed full 
of days, and her connections will retain of her the sweetest re- 
membrance." 

" We had intended to Tiave reached town earlier in the week, but 
it was not in friendship to leave unburied so venerable a connec- 
tion, to resist the importunities of her aged companion, and her 
earnestly imploring children. From Monday noon until Friday 
morning, we remained in Stoughtonip yielding such alleviations as 
an old and unbroken amity had a right to expect. On Thursday 
afternoon, the sepulchral rites were performed. Her only surviv- 
ing brother, a white-haired old gentleman, with his lady, and a 
number of other connections, arrived about noon from Boston, •for 
the purpose of paying the last honors to the deceased by attending 



23 

her obsequies. An affectionate exhortation and prayer was 
delivered by Mr. Murray previous to the commencement of 
the procession, and at the grave, also, some suitable observations 
were made by our friend, calculated to do justice to the departed, 
and administer improvement and consolation to survivors. Our 
company at Col. Gridley's on Thursday evening, was large, and 
we passed it like those who entertain the sure and certain hope of 
meeting again the pleasing connection who had so recently taken 
her flight. The weather yesterday morning proved most pro- 
pitious to our wishes, and after a night of refreshing slumbers, we 
departed from Stoughton, enriched with the warmest wishes of 
our friends."* "Stoughton Villa" the residence of General 
Gridley, was situated on almost the exact spot where the house of 
Miss Chloe Dunbar now stands. 

To return to the military career of Gridley. In a letter dated 
March 1778? he writes to General Heath for more men to close 
the fortifications at Castle William and Governor's Island. He 
desired that the assistance be sent him that spring, as he feared a 
return of the enemy. In doing this, he says he is instigated by 
his love of country, and that should any accident happen through 
delay, the blame would fall on him. His receipts for payment and 
the commutation accounts for July, August and September, show 
that he was still Chief Engineer. 

In 17S0, he writes to Major General Heath, f that he has had 
no pay for thirteen months, and begs that the General will allow 
him something, and charge it to his. department. He complains 
that the last pay he received, he was obliged to divide with his 
son, who assisted him. In this want of funds, it is probable there 
were at this time many officers of the army who could heartily 
sympathize with him. It is stated upon good authority that Grid- 
ley was connected in 1 781 with the operations in Rhode Island, 
but we have no documentary proof of it. J On February 26, 1781, 
Congress resolved, that it be recommended to the State of Massa- 
chusetts to make up to Richard Gridley, the depreciation of his 
pay as engineer, at sixty dollars per month, from the time of his 
appointment to the first of January, i78i.§ 

* Kfcv. E. Davis, Uuiv. Quar. 1876. f MS. Papers Gen. Heath. + S. A. Drake. 
§ Congress. Jour. 1781, p. 581. 



2 4 

It is the year 1 7S3. Peace has spread her bright wings over 
this fair land, and the citizens ol this ancient town have met 
together in the old church to celebrate, with befitting ceremonies, 
the dawning of that auspicious day. From the old church tower 
the bell rings forth a merry peal. Flags are flying, guns are 
booming. Men who have taken part in the dangers and trials of 
the war greet at the church door their companions in arms. 
Young men and maidens, brave in holiday attire, come from far 
and near to join in the festivities. In the pulpit sits the pastor 
who has ministered to this people for over half a century, and by 
his side the distinguished orator of the day. On that great day, 
when the fhanks of the people were to be returned to the immortal 
veterans of the war, and when thanksgiving was to be offered to 
Almighty God for the success of our arms and the establishment 
of the Republic, Richard Gridley was left out in the cold, unin- 
vited, forced to remain at home, and see, with feelings that can be 
better imagined than described, the great concourse of people pass 
his house to celebrate the return of peace — that peace to which he 
had contributed more than any of them. The question will nat- 
urally by asked, why was a man, so distinguished in the art of war 
and with so noble a record, allowed to remain away from this cel- 
ebration? When Pedaretus, the Spartan, missed the honor of 
being elected one of the three hundred who held a distinguished 
rank in the city, he went home well satisfied, saying he was glad 
to know there were three hundred men in Sparta more honorable 
than he. Gridley could hardly say this. Had he been guilty of 
some heinous crime, for which he must be ostracized from the 
society of his neighbors and townspeople? Far from it. Gridley 
could not understand this intentional neglect, and he inquired of 
an intimate friend of his why it was that lie had received no in- 
vitation to the celebration. His friend reluctantly answered him 
in these words: ''Because, General, you are not considered by 
those having that matter in charge a Christian." His friend al- 
luded to the fact that Gridley had become a Universalist in relig- 
ious belief. The old veteran paused a moment, dropped his head 
upon his breast, and then with solemn and impressive speech, ut- 
tered these words : " I love my God, my country, and my neigh- 



2 5 

bor as myself. If they have any better religion, I should like to 
know what it is."* 

Gen. Gridley's last appearance in public was in 1 795? when he 
assisted in laying the corner stone of the State House, as he had 
of the State in 1 775 • The same year we find his name attached 
to the petition which resulted in the Act of Incorporation of the 
town of Canton. 

A few years after the introduction of Free Masonry into North 
America, Gridley was initiated into the mysteries of the craft. In 
"A General List of the Brethren, made in the First Lodge of Free 
and Accepted Masons in Boston, New England, also those ac- 
cepted members in it, with the time when made or admitted from 
the first foundation, A. L. 5733," under date of Jan 22, 5745, ap- 
pears the name of Richard Gridley ; but this only indicates when 
he was admitted a member. No record is known to exist showing 
in what Lodge he received the first degree ; but the following 
record from the Master's Lodge will show when he was made a 
Master Mason. "April 4, 1746; the Lodge being open, Bro. 
Richard Gridley attending, was raised Master, and paid £3."! 

May 13, 1756. — "The Right Worshipful Grand Master, Jeremy 
Gridley, authorized the Right Worshipful Richard Gridley, Esq., 
to congregate all Free and Accepted Masons in the present expe- 
dition against Crown Point, and form them into one or more 
Lodges, as he should think fit, and to appoint Wardens and other 
officers to a Lodge appertaining." In September, 1756, at a meet- 
ing of the Provincial Grand Lodge, held in Boston, at which, 
without doubt, his Excellency, John, Earl of Loudoun, Com- 
mander-in-Chief of His Majesty's forces in America, and Past 
Grand Master of Masons in England, was present, the " R. W. 
G. M. appointed Bro. Richard Gridley, then Master of the First 
Lodge, to make the above five gentlemen Masons, who were 
made Entered Apprentices and Passed Fellow Crafts." 

In 1 768, on the sixteenth of November, at a meeting of the 
Second Lodge, with a father's pride, he proposed the name of his 
well-beloved son, Scarborough, to be made a Maspn, and 

* Miss Abigail Crane, 
f Grand Lodge liec. 

7 



26 

by a dispensation from the Master, he was unanimously balloted in 
and made a mason in due form. John Rowe appointed Richard 
Gridley, Deputy Grand Master of St. John's Grand Lodge, January 
27, 1769, and he, in all probability, continued in that office until 
178S. Certain it is that he was Deputy Grand Master in 1787, 
and no other name appears as holding the office in the interim.* 
He was beloved and respected by all the members of the fraternity 
of Ancient Free and Accepted Masons. At the decease of his 
brother Jeremy, he was unanimously chosen Grand Master of the 
Provincial Grand Lodge, an honorable distinction which he 
thought it expedient, amid the pressure of other duties, to decline. 

In private life his character was unexceptionable and exemplary, 
and would stand the most scrutinizing examination. Correct 
morals, unimpeachable integrity, unsullied honesty, strict veracity, 
habits of temperance to a degree of abstemiousness, in an age 
when every one drank liquor, a perfect freedom from every vice, 
and the constant practice of those virtues that adorn and dignify 
human nature, were the distinguishing traits of his character. He 
possessed great equanimity of temper, and as a friend and com- 
panion was cheerful, agreeable and instructive. The Hon. William 
Eustis, Dj. Townsend, and many others having commenced their 
studies with Gen. Warren, and being by his death deprived of 
their patron, looked with almost filial affection upon Gen. Gridley, 
as their guide, companion and friend, and passed much of their 
time with him during his residence at the house of Gov. Brooks, in 
Cambridge, with whom he has been often heard to say, he passed 
many happy hours. His urbanity, his uniform politeness, and 
graceful demeanor, rendered him a true gentleman. His elegance 
of deportment at his ever hospitable board was often noticed and 
admired. He was equally charitable to individuals and philan- 
thropic to the public, in competition with which his self-interest 
was wholly disregarded. 

In stature he was remarkably tall, of commanding presence, 
with a frame firm and vigorous. His constitution was like iron. 
He rarely suffered from illness, and his death was not in conse- 
quence of the general decay of nature, such as usually attends ad- 

*Const. Grand Lodge 1867- 



2 7 

vanced age, but was caused by cutting some poisonous bushes, 
which injured his blood, and which, on the twenty-first of June, 
1796, terminated his truly valuable life.* On Thursday, the 23d, 
he was buried in a small enclosure near his house. The Rev. 
John Murray preached the funeral sermon, and crowds from far 
and near came to. Canton to pay their tribute of love and respect 
to his memory. In this neglected spot his body rested, until 
Saturday Oct. 28, 1876, when the Gridley Committee commenced 
the disinterment.! A few strokes of the pick revealed that an error 
of about a foot had been made in the location of the grave ; a second 
attempt proved successful and at the depth of seven feet the sides 
of the coffin were reached ; from this time the work was conducted 
with greater care, a trowel taking the place of a spade. A part 
of the skull of the old veteran was lifted from its bed of sand and 
gravel, and to it was attached a quantity of gray hair, ending in a 
braided queue, this sufficiently identified the body ; portions of the 
bones of the arms and legs were soon after exhumed, and every- 
thing found in the grave, except the queue, was placed in a box, 
which the committee conveyed to the cemetery, where the remains 
were reinterred, each member of the committee and a delegation 
of the Canton Historical Society, assisting. On the 24th of Oct. 
the monument was brought from Milton, and placed in position 
upon the site previously selected by the committee, and freely given 
by the town, at its annual meeting, for that purpose. The base of 
the pedestal is of hammered Quincy granite, the dado is of Ran- 
dolph granite with polished tablets, which bear the following in- 
scriptions : 

"This monument is erected by the citizens of Canton 
to the memory of rlchard gridley, as a tribute of honor 
and gratitude to one whose life was spent in the service 
of his country. born jan. 3, 171o. died june 21, i796." 

"A VETERAN OF THREE WARS. He COMMANDED THE ARTIL- 
LERY of His Majesty's army at the siege of Louisburg ; He- 
stood BY THE SIDE OF WOLFE AT THE FALL OF QUEBEC, AND AS 

* MS. letter of Gridley's daughters. 

t The committee 011 the Gridley Monument consisted of E. A. Morse, 0. S. Chap- 
man, E. It. Eager, W. E. Endicott, D. T. V. Iluntoon. 



2S 

Major General and Chief Engineer of the Patriot army 

he planned the fortifications on bunker hlll, and on 

the day of the battle fell wounded." 

" i shall fight for justice and my country." 

" I LOVE my God, my country, and my neighbor as myself." 

Washington wrote : 

" i know of no man better fitted to be chief engineer 

than Gen. Gridley." 

The tablet on the south-east side, facing Washington street, has 
the American shield with the stars and stripes, and the name 
"Gridley" in large letters. The whole is surmounted by a can- 
non in exact imitation of the "Hancock" or "Adams," one of the 
o-uns Gridley served with his own hand at the battle of Bunker 
Hill. 

Thus, life's duties well performed, passed from us one of the 
most distinguished military characters of New England ; renown- 
ed for personal bravery in the face of the enemy, a skilled artiller- 
ist, a scientific engineer, a prominent actor in the great events of 
our country's history ; the companion of Sir William Pepperrell, 
of Lord Amherst, of Earl St. Vincent, of Cook, the navigator, of 
Montgomery and Wolfe ; in latter days, of Prescott, and Putman, 
and Knox, of Thomas, and Ruggles, and Frye, and Warren, and 
Washington. 

A writer in the Columbian Centinel, issued a few days after his 
death, in speaking of Gen. Gridley, says : — "To sketch the usefulness 
of the deceased, to delineate his services as a citizen, a soldier and 
mason, are unnecessary. They have repeatedly been acknowl- 
edged by his countrymen, and live in the memory of every one 
acquainted with the history of our country." 

Such, soldiers and fellow-citizens, was the life of the man to 
whose memory you have erected a monument. As the successive 
generations of our townspeople contemplate its beauty, it will 
speak to them a varied language. The soldier who fought to 
preserve, will call to mind the hero who fought to establish, the 
Republic. Our old men, as they gaze on it, will " call to re- 



membrance the former days ; " and it shall teach our young men 
lessons of courage, duty and patriotism. To all of our citizens it 
shall be a source of pride that we have finally, in a suitable man- 
ner, commemorated the most distinguished of our townsmen 



3 1 
IR/ O S T IE IR/ 

OF THE 

) 



Uftera and Jpnlryji of fflvm Jrncampmcnt 



POST 94, G. A. R. 



Commander, 

S. V. 

J. V. 

Adjutant, 

Quarter Master, 

Surgeon, 

Chaplain, 



A. A. HARRINGTON. 
S. L. SMITH. 
JONA. LINFIELD. 
II . D. SEAVEY. 
L. E. WENTWORTH. 
A. R. HOLMES. 
E. A. MORSE. 



Officer of the Day, R. L. WESTON. 

" Guard, F. Z. LEONARD. 

Sergeant Major, H. A. FREEMAN. 

Qr. M. Sergeant, J. C. BRESLYN. 



Delegate to Department Encampment, F. G- WEBSTER, 
Substitute, CAPT. JOHN HALL. 



MEMBERS 



BILLINGS, JOHN D. 
BRYANT, CI IAS. F. 
BYAM, R. S. 
BRESLYN, J. C. 
CAPEN, HERBERT S. 
CAPEN, G. W. 
CHAMPNEY, EDWARD S. 
CARROLL, DANIEL W. 
CRAM, JAMES II. 
EARLE, JERE. E. 
FARRELL, WILLIAM 
FREEMAN, HENRY A. 
HALL, JOHN Capt. 
HARWOOD, H. E. 
HOWES, FRANCIS M. 
HUNT, GEORGE B 
HIXON, E. R. 
HOLMES, A. R. 



harrington, a. a. 
kinsley, adam 
leonard, friend z. 
linfield, jona. 
Mcpherson, david 

MORSE, E. A. 
MORSE, STILLMAN H. 
PARKS, JOHN 
PARTRIDGE, CHARLES 
PEACH, HENRY 
SEAVEY, FRANK E. 
SEAVEY, HORACE D. 
SMITH, S. L. 
S1LLOWAY, JACOB Jr. 
WEBSTER, FRANK G 
WENTWORTH, L. E. 
WESTON, R. L. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



011 699 276 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 





01 1 699 276 M 



